Waiting tables is in Domenic Capossela's DNA. He put on the uniform for the first time when he was 12 years old, and he was hooked from the start.

"My family had a restaurant for 35 years, so I grew up in that and ran it," he said Monday in between writing down the daily specials on a large blackboard.

He joined Summer Shack staff nine months ago after decades of service at his family's Italian restaurant in the North End of Boston.

Capossela can be found running around the restaurant Monday through Friday during lunch and dinner hours.

How was your first time waiting on a table?

Because I grew up in the restaurant, it felt pretty natural. It's something I've always liked. I like dealing with food and dealing with people. Because food was so important in my life, serving always felt really, really natural and fun. Although a lot of people consider it a hard job, which it can be, for me it's always a blast.

What's the best part of waiting tables?

It's making their stay as exciting and interesting as possible. You have to be dealing with special food for that to happen, for someone to sit down not have been here before and to be able to show off what we do. To me, shaking a hand at the end of the meal is a really nice feeling.

What's the craziest thing you've done for a diner?

When we were in the North End … we would have kids come in sometimes with their parents and they would be dying for pizza, which we never made. So, I guess calling up Regina Pizzeria and running over to Regina's and picking up pizzas for the kids. Things you wouldn't expect a restaurant to do, that's always a challenge.

The parents would be so thrilled that you would go out and do something so thoughtful and time consuming just to make their child happy. Those kinds of things are fun and keep you on your toes. You need to use your imagination a little bit. It shows the costumer you're not just serving food; you're looking at their time here as something really important.

And what's the farthest you've gone here to make a customer happy?

Over hearing a table talking about something that maybe you don't have or a dish that they're thinking of, and talking to our head chef, Mike, and saying, ‘look, we would make this person really happy if we take a piece of haddock and plain grill it.'

I don't have too many examples because I have only been here for a short period, but keeping your ears open and filling in a gap.

Page 2 of 2 - Do you ever eat here as a customer?

Even before I worked here, I loved Summer Shack because the food was stunning. It wasn't just good; it was breathtaking, but simple. It was expensive because seafood is expensive, but the preparations were really good, really clean. The service is so relaxed and fun that as a customer you're not uptight.

What's your favorite dish on the menu?

The baked stuffed lobster here is the best you'll ever have. The pan-roasted lobster ... is world famous. It's so delicate, and the lobster is cooked just enough. The flavor of the sauce is so intense that you just don't want to stop.

It's pretty even across the board. Women come in expecting to be abused. They expect to be overlooked, because I think in a lot of restaurants a lot of waiters look at two women and think, ‘they're going to be here forever and they're not going to order much.'

If they want to split a sandwich and have two waters, you treat them just as well as if they were having a bottle of champagne and steaks, you give them a sense that you just want them happy.

You shouldn't be thinking about your tip. Your tip will come, and what it is, it is. But if they leave really happy and they want to come back, that's what makes a greater waiter really happy. The money comes as a side effect of making people thrilled in your restaurant.

What's the secret to becoming a successful waiter?

It's really loving the restaurant you're in. If you don't love where you work, you can only fake it for so long. You get tired and every day becomes a drag.

Staff writer Sara Feijo can be reached at 781-433-8336 or sfeijo@wickedlocal.com. Follow @s_fjo on Twitter. Like The Dedham Transcript on Facebook and follow @DedhamTranscrip on Twitter.